And they’re off. What could upend America’s election?
The world this week
By Invitation
Finance and development
Three presidents on how to make global finance work better for Africa
Britain’s fiscal fiction
A former adviser on the 250 words Jeremy Hunt should read out at the budget
Leaders
And they’re off
Three big risks that might tip America’s presidential election
Third parties, the Trump trials and the candidates’ age introduce a high degree of uncertainty
China’s National People’s Congress
Xi Jinping’s hunger for power is hurting China’s economy
A new economic plan won’t end deflation, even as he sidelines his prime minister
Jam today, ingredients tomorrow
Britain’s budget cuts taxes on the promise of productivity gains
Jeremy Hunt has got it the wrong way round
The real skinny
A frenzy of innovation in obesity drugs is under way
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are printing money now. But they will not be a stagnant duopoly
Letters
On artificial intelligence, the Holocaust, national conservatives, Ukraine, history, investment advice
Letters to the editor
Briefing
Spoilers
Third-party candidates could be decisive in America’s election
But they have to get on the ballot first
Britain
Briefcase encounter
The British budget mixes sensible tinkering and fiscal fantasy
Newbury’s finest
Vodafone tries to slim its way back to health
Unnatural selection
Why on earth would anyone become a British MP?
Europe
On the wild side
Ukraine’s animals are also victims of the war
Abortion rules
Why France has made abortion a constitutional right
General discomfort
The damage done by Russia’s hack of Germany’s defence ministry
United States
Brand Old Party
Super Trump and his mighty MAGA machine
Sleepy Tuesday
Donald Trump wasn’t MAGA’s only winner on Super Tuesday
Executive inaction
Can Joe Biden bring order to the southern border without Congress?
Words of warning
Is New York rethinking its sanctuary-city status?
Celestial bodies
A private company will send your ashes to the moon
The WPATH files
Leaked discussions reveal uncertainty about transgender care
Middle East & Africa
The war in Gaza
Ramadan could see respite for Gaza, or widening violence
Riding the CCM seesaw
A lost opportunity to reform Tanzania
Yesterday’s price is not today’s price
Nigeria’s currency crisis is decades in the making
Cryptocurrencies in Africa
Why Africa is crypto’s next frontier
The Americas
Lawless and disordered
The last scraps of the Haitian state are evaporating
The legacy of Lava Jato
Corruption is surging across Latin America
Asia
Armed and autocratic
North Korea is arming Russia and threatening war with South Korea
Stock and awe
Why are so many Indians piling into stocks?
Too much butter, not enough chicken
Indian food is great. Perhaps too great
International
Business
Nootropic kid on the block
Brain-boosting substances are all the rage
The glass-ceiling index
More women are getting onto corporate boards. Good
More than a headache
Can Bayer recover from its chronic pain?
Finance & economics
Staring down the barrel
Can Israel afford to wage war?
Back to the moon
Bitcoin’s price is surging. What happens next?
Housing costs
America’s rental-market mystery
Urban economics
The world is in the midst of a city-building boom
Buttonwood
How investors get risk wrong
Free exchange
An economist’s guide to the luxury-handbag market
Science & technology
Dancing in the dark
Physicists are reimagining dark matter
Final countdown
A new technique to work out a corpse’s time of death
Advanced materials
Graphene, a wondrous material, starts to prove useful
Culture
Zones of interest
Whoever gets the Best Picture Oscar, international films are winning
And you call yourself civilised?
The history of the West is not quite what you learned in school
What’s in store?
Museums have a hoarding problem
Hillbilly elegies
Stories about the Dongbei rust belt are resonant in China
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Age and magnificence
Iris Apfel became a fashion icon in her ninth decade
The Economist explains
The Economist explains
What is Hindutva, the ideology of India’s ruling party?
The Economist explains
Does generative artificial intelligence infringe copyright?
The Economist reads
The Economist reads